The Society for Automotive Engineers at Oakland University participated in the Formula SAE International Competition on June 15-18 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Cali.

“We were only 14 points away from bringing home a trophy,” Ian McCormick, lead engineer and driver, said.

The competition consisted of nine events, ranging from sales pitches and design presentations to races against the clock.

Every year, the SAE team designs and build a formula racecar from the ground up to excel in these events. The Grizzly racers did just that in California.

“We were the first car through technical inspection, which is a huge success,” Stephanie Moore, SAE marketing director, said. “At technical inspection, judges analyze nearly every aspect of your car and often teams fail this inspection and have to fix issues. Teams must pass technical inspection before participating in any event. There are also similar inspections to pass such as brake and noise, which we were the second car to pass through.”

Many teams have to go through these inspections multiple times before they are approved to participate in the competition’s events.

At the California event, the SAE team set new records for the university in every category except the design event, though they set a record for that a month before at Michigan International Speedway, placing 15th.

Two standout events for the Grizzlies were the endurance event, where they placed 12^th, and the acel event where they placed in the top ten. These events take place on the track and are races against the clock and speed.

“Many teams were unable to finish this event due to breakdowns of their car,” Moore said, speaking of the endurance event.

A month before, the Grizzly racers participated in a SAE event at MIS, where they placed 75^th overall.

“Michigan was a little bit rough for us. There were a lot of German teams, a lot from England, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Australia, and Austria.  We also had a little bit of car trouble, but in California we obviously redeemed ourselves,” Moore said.

At the Michigan event, the team placed better than they would have normally without racing due to their record-setting score in the design event. However, the car experienced engine problems that kept them from competing in full.

Judged by professionals involved in the industry, McCormick said that competions are really challenging.

“It’s a little intense, because basically, if you do really well, they offer you a job,” McCormick said. “You get the luck of the draw, and we had some pretty rough design judges in California.”

Every year, the SAE members design and build a car piece by piece to compete in these events. They rely heavily on sponsor support and donations as compared to other schools they compete against.

“There are a lot of bigger schools, and most of these other schools, in general, have a way larger budget than we do and have more students,” Moore said.

The SAE racing teams next big event is the Toronto Shootout, held in October, with various small events around campus and the community before then.